Giant 15mm front hub - spacer removal help.

So every 15 mm or 20 km hub I've ever used has end caps that just pull off with a bit of a yank. I've now got some giant branded hubs (P-XC2 wheel set) that I can't get off for the life of me. Have tried the usual methods, leverage, vice, molegrips, wd40 etc. Now I'm wondering if they are fixed in some other way... any ideas????!!!

I may be confusing them with another make, possibly Specialized, but do they have an ali ring pressed into the hubshell over the spacer?If they have, you can winkle the spacer and ring out using the axle, but you may have to remove the disc as it sometimes overhangs the ring.

I'm assuming that the end caps pull off then you knock through the axle to remove the bearings. I need to pop them off to check the bearing codes, so just trying to get the non-disc side off at the moment. Sound like I just need to persevere. Starting to scratch up the caps though from all the trying!